And Then There was Fire
by M.L. Shards
Summary: Post Trenzalore. The human mind was not designed to live a thousand years in a few moments. Clara/11
1. Chapter 1

After falling through time for a thousand years, it wasn't a surprise when she found her legs didn't want her to walk. She tried of course, but they'd wobble, her knees would buckle and hit the ground before she got farther than a few steps. Each time he'd catch her, loop his arms around her waist and guide her back to her feet. He attempted to carry her multiple times, but she struggled against it. She was a thousand years old, or a hundred, or twenty-four, or something, but she wasn't a baby. She needed to walk.

The fifth time he pulled her up, she saw another one of him bolt passed and the ghost of his multicoloured scarf brushed her cheek. She screamed. It felt as though someone tried to open her skull with a sledgehammer.

"Shhh, come on, stay with me." The Doctor tried to sooth, but she could tell he was unnerved by the alternate versions of him, passing them on either side, oblivious to the meddling in their time stream. "We need to get out of here, you'll burn up."

"I'm dying, aren't I?" Clara asked weakly as another wave of pain hit. "Honest and proper dying this time."

"No!" The ferocity in the Doctor's voice startled her. "I did not nearly destroy time and space and everything I know for you to die on me again. Just, just hold on, we'll get you back to the Tardis and then…" He trailed off for a moment. "Then we'll take care of your head."

She didn't like the sound of that.

The pain hit her again and she screamed louder. "It's burns! Doctor, it burns!" She could feel the hot tears spilling out from her eyes. She'd tried to keep it together, but so much was happening, had happened at once. She was in the Time War, she was a Dalek, she was a Victorian nanny, she was a nurse, she was a student, a little girl… She was in a car accident, died of cancer, been in an explosion. It bombarded her and as soon as she had her feet planted on the ground, she collapsed again. "It burns."

"Yes, I know." He pulled her up again, but this time kept her in his arms , carrying her. She didn't have the strength to fight against it anymore. "Humans… your brains can't withstand this. We'll fix it though. You'll," His voice cracked. "you'll be back with the Maitlands soon."

She could barely breath now, only able to choke in a small amount of air between sobs, clutching on to the Doctor's coat, knuckles turning white. "You want me to forget."

He stepped sideways suddenly, jarring Clara as he barely dodged Three. He seemed to tense and she heard the cries of Ten becoming the Doctor she knew. "Yes." He said softly, sniffling slightly. "Yes I do."

"You'll have to cut off my head." She snapped with as much spunk as she could manage. She had to admit though, after she'd said it out loud, it might feel better.

"That'll have the same effect as doing nothing." He replied darkly, taking another step forwards.

A cool wind hit Clara's face and amongst all the pain, all the burning, it felt nice. She opened her eyes that she never noticed closing.

They were back on Trenzalore. Away from his tomb, back to where his Tardis was, not the one who was bleeding out and growing. They were outside of his time stream, she didn't know how that was possible, how you actually exit a time stream. At this point she didn't care. She wasn't sure if she'd fallen asleep or blacked out from pain, but next time she opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in the medical bay of the Tardis, still clutching the Doctor's coat. He had weaselled out of. The lights were off, it was almost pure black.

Of course, the Tardis was dead.

"I'm sorry I called you a cow." She sniffed, pulling the coat to her nose. "I'm so sorry."

Now he really would be alone, no one of his kind left, no Tardis and if he had his way, a very forgetful companion. She shook her head, immediately regretting the action as it felt like she'd gotten off of a roller coast. No, he wouldn't make her forget. She was not Donna Noble, she was Clara Oswald, the impossible girl, the one who had watched him afar and saved his lives over and over and, damn it, she would not burn up from this. Besides, the burning sensation was less now, less in her head at least.

She heard a familiar whirling. "I managed to ease the pain a bit." She heard the Doctor, and as he got closer, she saw his tired face lit up in green. "It's just temporary though. I… I can't just make your mind accept thousands of years all at once."

"What about Rory?" She whimpered.

"He lived through a thousand years, and it was horrible for him, but his brain had those thousand years to adjust. You were ripped apart by the universe, we're lucky you're together enough to talk still… you suddenly have memories from nowhere. It's going to overload your brain before it adjusts."

"So you'll just make me forget."

"I don't have a choice!" He snapped, desperation evident in his voice. "You think I wouldn't want to have you around? An impossible girl? One who knows all of me? One who was…"

"A time lord?" She finished.

"Yes," He sighed, "I know it's selfish, but if you… look Clara, you're not a time lady anymore-"

"I know the language."

He stopped. "I-"

"I know how to fix the Tardis, and what the sky looked like and the air smelled like, I remember you! Doctor, please don't make me forget it!"

He shook his head. "I don't want you too! But you'll die! I- I can't let that happen. You saved me, you've saved me so many times. I can't just let you die because I miss home."

"I'll ruin your coat." She said softly, the biggest threat she could come up with in the dark.

"Unfortunate collateral damage." He sighed.

"Just, just give me a moment, yah? Just alone?"

He nodded. "Okay, but not long." He placed a hand to her forehead. "You're, you're really burning, we can't leave it much longer."

He clicked the screwdriver off and she could hear him clamber away. Despite his normal lack of coordination, she didn't hear any trips or bumps or fumbles. She imagined that even dark, he knew the Tardis better than most people knew the back of their hands.

She thought of running, but realized her legs would never get that far. She tried to scan her memory, tried to remember what Time Lords did to block others from entering their minds, but it only made the burning intensify. That was the only time she'd been a member of a telepathic species. She was a sort of lizard thing back with Doctor eight for a while, but never telepathic. She wondered if it hurt, she wondered how much she would need to forget. For Donna it had been him. She couldn't live like that. Artie and Angie wouldn't let her for one.

She stared up at the ceiling, watching the odd patterns that she'd never noticed before. There must be another way, there was always another way…

She froze, her eyes widened. The room, she could see the ceiling.

She sat up, too fast for her body's liking. Where was the light coming from? She glanced around, the burning feeling intensified. It travelled from her head, down her neck, to her arms and legs until she felt like she'd been set on fire.

The light was her.

"Doctor!" She shrieked. "Doctor! Help me!" She was dying, she was burning up. She'd assumed he'd meant metaphorically burn, not actually catch on fire.

There was a clang as the Doctor smacked his head in to something metal in a rush to get to her. He shook it off quickly. "Clara!"

"It hurts!"

She watched his eyes widened and then close. He scanned her with his screwdriver. "Yes, I suppose it does." He said, swallowing hard.

"Fix it!"

He shook his head sadly. "I- I can't fix this."

"What? You're the Doctor! That's your promise!"

He buried his head in his hands. "This cannot be happening... Clara, I can't fix this!"

"Please."

"Close your eyes and think of your home. Think of what makes you happy and hold on to it no matter what."

"Why?"

"Because this is going to get a lot worse."

And then her world was fire.


	2. Chapter 2

She didn't know how long she burned for. It felt like eons. She knew she must be crying, but she couldn't feel tears. It was like she'd broken in to pieces again. Her shriek was hoarse and she wished for the Doctor to fix it. She wanted to call for help, to yell at him. She'd asked him for help and he'd just stood there, telling her to think of home. What did that mean? Was she going mad?

She thought of the Maitlands, and her father, and mother and wondered which she was more likely to see next. It hurt so much. How could she survive so long just to die now.

Then all at once the pain was gone. Startled, she found herself falling forwards. Her knees hit the ground and she instinctively braced herself with her arms. She glanced around quickly and then bolted up right. She felt much better. The pain, like a thousand burning suns in her chest was just gone. The fire was gone.

In fact, she felt pretty good.

She rolled her head from side to side, there was a loud pop. She was fine. She looked down, she was glowing slightly, strings of yellow light coming from her arms and then dissipating. Outside of that though, two arms, two legs, same clothes, same height. She felt her face. Eyes in the same place, nose, skin. She was fine, she wasn't charred. She looked around. The Tardis had lit up, the orange glow from before replaced with the normal silver and blue colours.

"You're alive!" She exclaimed happily, running towards the wall of the Tardis and pressing herself to it. "You're alive, oh, thank god." She felt the cool metal of the wall against her cheek and nearly started crying in relief. "You're alive, and I'm not dead!"

The Tardis hummed approvingly.

"Clara?" The Doctor asked. His voice more timid than she had ever heard it before. He held out his hand to her and helped pull her to her feet. She let him bring her to her feet and was delighted to find she could stand. The glow from her arms had stopped. She could hear voices in her head now, the Doctor's voice. He was confused and scared and scanning through all the medical knowledge he hand. She could hear bits of it echo.

Suddenly she felt hungry. Very hungry, as if she'd never eaten before in her life. She need only one and it pushed the other thoughts from her mind.

Food.

"Clara are you okay? Can you move?" Upon seeing her standing he beamed and he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up. "Oh my sweet impossible girl, when will you ever stop being amazing?" He kissed her forehead and her cheeks and held her to his chest, afraid to let go. She could feel both of his hearts thudding against her and tears in her hair. She wanted to say something special, she wanted to comfort him, to ask what had happened, but all should could think of was-

"Pears."

"What?" The Doctor pulled back, she could see confusion in his eyes. She couldn't find it in herself to care.

"I need pears."

The Doctor wrinkled his nose and put her back down. "P-pears? I hate pears they're awful and I never have pears, wait, you- you just exploded, you exploded, Clara. Why are you thinking of pears?"

"Pears are great, I love pears. You normally have food with you." She reached in to the Doctor's pants pocket. His eyes went wide at the invasion of personal space. It wasn't so bad, Time Lord pockets and all, but still...

"Clara!"

"Yes," She agreed to nothing. She wasn't listening, she was digging. He always had food. She wrapped her hand around something and withdrew her hand. She pulled out a baseball. She frowned, that was not food. "I notice we have power now." She added happily, tossing the baseball over her shoulder.

The Doctor looked around, he wrung his hands together as he always did when he wanted to tell a good story. "Yes, it's really quite interesting, when you-"

"We should go get pears." Clara insisted, tugging on the Doctor's braces. He'd taken his waistcoat off at some point in the dark. "I am starving." One of the braces snapped and startled him. He grabbed at it and tried to reattached it while she walked around the room.

He wasn't moving anywhere, he wasn't trying to get her food. She got bored quickly.

So, she bounded out of the room, grabbing the Doctor's jacked off of the medical bed she'd been sitting on moments earlier. She'd been burning, but now she was cold, freezing almost, and hungry. She pulled on the coat and ran off. The edge of the coat the last thing the Doctor saw before she rounded the corner. It took him a moment to register what had just happened.

"Oh you impossible girl." He sighed, chasing after her, his right brace still not attached properly. "Wait! Clara!"

The halls were different, but this time, Clara barely noticed. It was like there was a map in her head, every change, every wall and doorway she whizzed passed like it she'd done it a million times. She understood the coat now, it made her feel important. She laughed. She felt lightheaded. She'd been boiling and burning and dying and now, now she felt so alive. She passed a mirror on the wall. She stopped for a moment to check her hair. It was a bit messy, but understandable.

God she was hungry...

She bolted off again, until she finally reached the console room. She ran to the far side of the console, flipping switches, pressing button and pulling levers. Earth, 2013, one hour from when they'd left. The Maitlands would be out, the grocer open and still daylight. That should be good. She hit some more buttons, adjusting the location and time till it matched what was in her head.

The burning had now been replaced with an itching feeling. One that told her Norgella 6 in the year 2094 had the best pears, and that the chameleon circut could easily be fixed. The parking break was on and that the Doctor wore his clothes not to be 'cool' but so that he could be taken seriously and thought of as older. That he projected his thoughts when confused.

"All right, time to go!" She announced to the Tardis. It thrummed around her, the two finally at a truce.

That was when the Doctor finally caught up to her.

"Clara, you need to just sit down for a minute. You need to understand what happened." He placed his hand over Clara's who was still trying to pull the last lever. "I need to understand what just happened-" He tried to take her hand away to be rewarded with a smack to the side of the head. "Ow."

"Pears! Now, Chin Boy!" And she pulled down on the lever with all her might. She didn't understand, why he was trying to stop this, if she sat still it might come back, the pain, she could handle the itching.

Itching was much better than burning.

* * *

Not sure where this story is going, but the idea would not get out of my head.


	3. Chapter 3

It was rare that one of his companions could consistently surprise him, confuse him and out run him after so many trips through time and space. Clara Oswald was one of the few, and kept turning in to more of a mystery. Even after finding out why she kept showing up in random parts of him timeline he still couldn't figure out everything about her. Parts, like how she'd managed to get him in to a supermarket in the first place. He hated domestic.

His coat was huge on her. She looked like a cartoon character as she ran through the isles of the market reappearing every once in a while to toss something new in her cart. The Doctor tried to follow her, trying to scan her with the screwdriver as subtle as possible. He'd glance side to side every once in a while to see if there was anyone watching them.

"Oh, they're cute." He heard one of the shoppers giggle. "She has his coat."

He groaned. This was taking much longer than expected. He needed her to get back in the Tardis or to sit still. She didn't seem to be in any danger of burning up anymore, but she'd exploded. She'd exploded in his Tardis, somehow brought it back to life and wouldn't stop long enough to get any kind of data he needed to decide if she was actually safe

Clara skittered around the corner, dumping another batch of pears in to the cart along with pizza and a pile of muffins. She turned on her heel and smacked in to the shelving holding paper towels. She hit her head and fell to the ground.

"Ow. That was weird."

"Are you all right?" The Doctor asked, leaning over her.

"I was going left." She said, stunned.

"Yes, that happens sometimes."

"I went right."

"Yes, that happens sometimes." The Doctor repeated. "Except you're in the same body, you should know how to control your own feet."

"Huh…"

"Okay, that's enough." He lifted her up, throwing her over his shoulder. This wasn't the Clara he knew. He didn't know if this was temporary or if she was in serious danger, but he couldn't wait any longer in hopes of her calming down on her own. "We're getting you back to the Tardis."

"But, pears…" She protested sadly

It was two hours before the Doctor was finally able to get Clara to the Maitlands, carrying her part of the way. She'd refused to go back in the Tardis. He unlocked the door with the sonic screwdriver and proceeded to sit her own on their flowery couch. She wrapped herself in his coat and let out a yawn. A two hour walk carrying a load of groceries had caused a lot of the energy she had to wear off. The Doctor put away the groceries he knew and came out with a large crystal bowl designed for punch filled to the top with pears. He placed it on the couch and watched her eyes light up.

She held the bowl of pears in her lap while the Doctor scanned her. He went as far as placing his sonic screwdriver to her temple. Sometimes he'd slap it against the palm of his hand, as if it was malfunctioning. Other times he just muttered at it.

It didn't bother Clara, she finally had her pears.

After the fifth one, the craving had started to subside, and she became more aware of her surroundings and the fact the screwdriver had not moved more than a few inches from her at any point since he sat down beside. "So… why'd I explode?"

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. "Not really sure." He slapped the screwdriver against the palm if his hand again, trying to make his reading make sense. "You seem to have regenerated. I mean you look exactly the same but- you're not, uh-" He hovered his hand over her chest area. "internally."

"Regenerated, huh? That thing you do instead of dying?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes that thing. Of course, you can't do that."

Clara paused. "Yet-"

The Doctor sighed. "Yet you did, somehow and instead of a new face, you're not human anymore."

"I'm not human?" Clara asked in confusion, taking a bite out of another pear. She poked her arm. She still felt human.

"No you're not. Not now at least. You're brainwaves are all wrong and you've… you've…ugh!" The Doctor growled, throwing his screwdriver down. "This doesn't make sense."

His head hurt. He searched his mind and memories, for all of time and space that he'd been through he tried to think of something that could cause this. She fell through his time stream, she broke in to millions of pieces and got put back together. Energy, put her back together, mixed with his time stream… that equals time lord? Had it just been her bodies way of coping with the sudden change in memories and energy and...

Clara cleared her throat to pull him out of his thought. "All right then, so I'm not human somehow. I exploded and have a giant craving for random fruit." She placed her hand on her side, but drew it back quickly as she felt an odd pulsing. She thought for a minute. Her brain seemed to be working overtime ruling out names and species and symptoms and viruses. When her mind settled on the conclusion her eyes widened. "So I'm a Time Lord?"

The Doctor glanced over at his screwdriver and then back to Clara. He debated internally for a moment, before pressing his ear to Clara's side. He wondered if this was how Martha had felt all those years ago. He closed his eyes. He heard the distinct _thud, thud, thud, thud._ The theory his screwdriver, eyes, and brain was malfunctioning at the same time flew out the window. He doubted his sense of feeling and hearing would go at the same time as the rest.

"Ever heard of personal space?" Clara asked, eyebrows shooting up as she bit in to another pear.

"You're the one who reached in to my pockets earlier, now shush." He kept his eyes closed. He'd forgotten how soothing it was to hear the double heartbeat in someone else's chest. He swallowed hard, he hands shaking ever so slightly. "And stop it, you're a Time _Lady._"

"I'm a Time Lord." She shifted. Time Lady sounded all wrong in her head. "Well, that's unexpected."

"Somehow." He groaned, burying his head in his hands again, his ear never leaving Clara's side. "I just don't understand, you can't just make a Time Lord, I mean Lady." He pushed the thought of River from his head. He was not getting in to that thought pattern right now. He tried to calm his own hearts, but it was hard. Clara was a Time Lady. His impossible girl, who had saved him over and over, who sacrificed herself, who he would do anything to keep from losing again was a Time Lady. He may not actually lose her after a few years, she might actually stay. He might be able to speak and write his language, to talk about days at the academy, to have someone help with the Tardis, understand his ramblings and not burn up.

"So I'm impossible, nothing new."

He smiled weakly, opening his eyes and glancing up at her. "I supposed it isn't." He didn't want to sit up, not until he was forced to. The last time he'd heard the rhythm, it had been the Master. "What do you remember? Do- do you remember giving me the Tardis?" He asked hopefully. She regenerated, but had she been able to keep all of her old memories? He begged to a higher power that she had.

She patted him on the head and helped herself to another pear. "Of course."

"And- and Gallifrey?"

"It was orange." She replied. She looked down. The Doctor stared up at her, eyes full of wonder and longing. For the first time she saw his age in his eyes. "It looked like it was on fire. Seems like a common theme with you folks… and the mountains, I remember mountains, and the Citadel. I always wanted to run around the Citadel as a child. I was afraid of running in to the Lord President. I doubt he'd have cared, but I imagined he'd send me away to the Outskirts."

He blinked back tears and let out a sigh. "I remember Rassilon always seemed to be 10 feet tall."

"I remember the language, when people spoke it sounded like singing. A whole planet singing." She said softly. Her hand had worked in to the Doctor's hair. "It was lovely."

"It was." The Doctor whispered. Suddenly Clara's stomach gurgled, and he sat up in surprise, trying to regain his composure. "Um, right, sorry."

Clara winced. She couldn't help but feel she'd ruined a special moment. "Sorry, I'm just so hungry."

He wrung his hands. "Yes, I suppose after that release of energy you would be." He paused, shaking his head to try to regain his focus. "Why aren't you worried? You regenerated in to a different species." Amy and Rory would both have killed him by now.

She shrugged. "I'm sure you can fix it."

He stared at her as she helped herself to another pear. "Oh, right, yes, I- I can try to fix it." He sighed sadly. "Right, fix it."

Fix it. That was how she'd begged when this started. He supposed that made sense. Two hearts, out living all of her friends and family, not being able to have the normal life when this was over. She wouldn't be able to have kids with a human and he imagined that was something Clara would want someday. She'd mentioned being able to remember the language, and he felt his hearts breaking. He missed Gallifrey so much, she remember the Tardis and the Citadel.

Clara took another bite and frowned. She'd said something wrong. She searched her new mind. Why was he upset about- Oh… How could she be so thick?

"Doctor, I didn't mean it that way-"

"It's all right, I mean, you… you didn't really choose to be a Time Lord, it's, it's a lonely life and much different that what you have now. I can see if I can fix it. I've made people… not Time Lords before, and by people I mean me. I mean it was temporary, obviously, but maybe I can-"

"You- you don't want me to be a Time Lord?" Clara felt her stomach drop. She'd assumed he'd liked the idea. She'd be much more helpful now, smarter, faster, live longer, speaking hundred of languages.

"W-what?" The Doctor shook his head. "No, don't be silly. If anyone was going to be a Time Lady I'd want it to be someone who was."

At that point Clara knew how much she'd changed. That sentence made sense. "I just want you to fix the burning and itching feelings. I… I don't want to forget all of those lives. I need to stay this way to do that."

The Doctor swallowed hard. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. I can see all of time and space now. It's beautiful."

The Doctor's face softened. 'It is, isn't it?"

* * *

Did this become a Clara/11 on me? I don't know yet...


	4. Chapter 4

She remembered almost everything of her lives. She remembered the hopes and fears and the people. She remembered being English and French and Spanish and Lizard and Gallifreyan. However, just because her mind remembered most and picked out pieces, didn't mean the rest of her did. The Doctor had pulled her back to the Tardis. Inside, he ran excitedly, up and down the halls, showing her books and posters, and bottled memories of many civilizations, but mostly of his home. She felt her hearts nearly break as he pressed book after Time Lord book in to her hands insisting she needed to read it right away. The stack was almost as tall as her.

Read it. Her eyes and brain had no problem with reading, but as soon as he started talking, she frowned. He was talking about the books and old friends, she could understand most of it.

"_Are you always homesick?_" She tried in Gallifreyan, but her tongue, which had been human for the last twenty-four years didn't want to cooperate just yet.

He stopped and stared at her. "Why would I be sick of houses?" He replied in English.

She groaned as he added another book to the pile. "Sorry, that's not what I meant. I meant homesick."

"Ah, right, the pronunciation will be a bit tricky till your tongue gets used to it again, and kind of loosens up. We can work on that."

Clara snickered. "We'll work on loosening up my tongue? In your snogbox?"

"Yes." He agreed, then paused as he worked through the implications. "Hey, no! Not what I-Shut up."

She laughed, shuffling over to a nearby table to rest the large pile of books on it. She noticed the Tardis didn't make the same noise or jolt as it normally did when she called it a snogbox. She hoped they were done fighting. She had given the Tardis to the Doctor (or the Doctor to the Tardis depending on who you ask) and did know how to work her properly now. In fact the Tardis almost seemed happy to see her now. She picked the book on the top of the pile and pulled it down.

The book was old and worn, as if it had been read a lot over the years. It was very heavy. The brown cover appeared to have been wet at one point, and cracked slightly. The gold, circular text spelt out "_I Was Born From Sunligh_t" across the middle.

"What is this then?" She asked, flipping it over. There was no description, just a she supposed that was a human thing.

"It's about regeneration." The Doctor replied, glancing down. He wrung his hands as he often did while nervous or excited. "It… it helps when you change, to accept it. I thought maybe it would help with all this. I, I imagine this is a lot at once."

She held the book to her chest. "Thank you." She said. "I think I'll just start with this one for now, yah?"

He seemed put out. "But I have so many more."

"And we have plenty of time." Clara added, squeezing his arm. "Come on, the Maitlands will be home soon and I left pears all over their living room."

"I even have a children's book called ' _Grumlie, the Unlucky Time Lord_,' maybe you could read it to Artie? " He suggested hopefully, holding out yet another book. She was relieved to see this one was much smaller.

"Oh, okay, fine, Grumlie can come as well." She sighed and allowed him to place it on top of the other book. "But that's it for now."

"Fine." The Doctor sighed.

He reluctantly followed Clara out of the Tardis, watching a companion, for the first time, in a long time, adapt to the changes of rooms as they happened. It only took a few minutes to get from the Library to the control room. She exited the blue box, with him following, clutching both books to her chest. They'd managed to get back to the Tardis using a Taxi and the Doctor had managed to get it to land a block from the Maitlands. Clara felt silly that she'd made them walk all the way home carrying groceries, but it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Then again, so had dozens of pears. She felt a bit sick of pears at this point.

"So, we're a bit stuck together now." Clara said. "No getting rid of me like the others."

He scoffed. "I don't try to-"

"Look, if we're going to be together for hundreds of years again, I'd like you to meet a few people. I can't just keep running off with you without them knowing why I'm not aging properly."

"Sure you can."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, I can, but I won't. I… for the next bit, could we just try being human sometimes? I'm still a nanny, and I still have friends and… I just don't want to suddenly leave it all."

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pant's pockets. Clara had yet to release his jacket back to him. "Well, I mean… I'd like you to live in the Tardis, but you don't have to. Nothing really has to change, I can keep coming back on Wednesdays."

"I don't want you moping for seven days."

"It's a Time Machine."

"Point is-" Clara continued, her nose twitching. "I'd like you to meet a few people, be part of my life here as well as up there."

"I've tried that, with others." He said hesitantly as they approached the front door of the house. "I… I'm not good with domestic."

"Try again." She said, unlocking the door and flipping the light switch. "We need a better name for you, just when they meet you the first time."

"I'm the Doctor, I'm always the Doctor."

"I mean a name, I could use your actual name, but so far bad things happen when-."

"John Smith. That's what I use."

"Obviously fake. Smith we can use….hmmm, maybe Peter?"

"Peter? No."

"David? Chris? Paul? Matt?"

He snorted. "Matt Smith? That's a rubbish name."

"Well, we need something." She rested the Time Lord books on the coffee table. "I can't introduce you to my friends as 'the Doctor' all the time." She began picking up the cores of pears scattered around the living room, placing them back in to the punch bowl. "Just… maybe stay around after our trips? Teach me how to speak the language properly and deal with these changes and I'll show you how to be a human for a little while. I only have… maybe sixty years before most of the people I know… are gone." She swallowed hard. That hadn't really hit her before. She was going to outlive everyone she knew, and in fact, had already. She sat down on the couch. "I'm going to outlive everyone." She replied in monotone.

Artie and Angie and Mr. Maitland and her father and her friends from school and Angie and Artie's kids too, and those kids. She thought she could handle this. She loved travelling and she loved spending time with the Doctor, but hundreds and thousands of years. All of her lives, all of them ghosts… She touched her face, she'd started crying. She looked over to the Doctor. How did he live like this?

"Yes," He said softly. "That happens too." He sat down beside her and pulled her in to his lap, so her chin rested on his shoulder. He hugged her. "But you still have those years available to you. We can make them last as long as you'd like."

"Okay, yes." She sniffed. The amount of mood swings she'd had in the past few hours was making her feel dizzy. "Yes and then…" She trailed off.

"And then?"

"Then I'll run away with you, good and proper. I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

It had been two days since the change. They had bee two days of crying, and sleeping, and reading. The Doctor checked in a few times. When he saw her with the book or her nanny duties, he'd just ask how she was, hug her, and then shuffle back to the Tardis. He seemed to have forgotten his initial excitement and seemed to be feeling horribly guilty. She half expected to hear the telltale wheezing of the Tardis and for him to run away in the night, never to be seen again. She hoped the Tardis wouldn't let him.

The book the Doctor had given her spoke mostly of dealing with the meaning of your death, of why you died and how to honour the memory, but to move on. That this was not something that was your fault, and often it was not something that could be controlled. She'd known all of the Doctors, and the thought of him sitting down with the book ten times in his life and trying to accept himself broke her hearts. The cover was falling apart from water damage, tears she imagined.

She hadn't changed externally, and her personality seemed to still be her own, but she still felt loss. She missed human Clara and the ignorance she'd held. She hadn't died so many times or seen her planet burn. She didn't remember the love of Rory and Amy and now know why the Doctor barely spoke of them, even though they'd been so influential in his life.

She shut the book and sat it on her bedside table. She sighed and pulled herself out of bed. She wasn't all right yet, but there was still so much to do, on Earth and all over the Galaxy. She went over to her dresser, pulling out a blue dress and black tights. She dressed quickly and tied her hair back. Oswin had always been able to get such a pretty wave in her hair when she made a ponytail, somehow Clara hadn't retained that ability. The thought of Oswin dampened her mood.

Clara looked at herself in the mirror hanging above her dressing. She inhaled deeply and titled her chin up. "All right, the Doctor does this everyday, and has for thousands of years. Are you going to let him beat you?" The reflection didn't respond. "No, of course not, chin boy has nothing on you. The only thing keeping him quicker and smarter and better is gone, so you are the new Time Lord victorious." She paused. "That's horrible." She shook her head and tried again. "The Doctor needs you just as much as you need him now. Nothing needs to change, sixty years can last a thousand if I want."

"What are you doing?"

Clara let out a shriek and spun around to find Angie leaning against her doorframe, eyes trained on her phone, texting someone. "Don't do that!"

"You're a Time Lord, then?" Angie asked, raising an eyebrow.

She faltered. She hadn't mentioned any of this to Angie or Artie. Artie only knew the Doctor had lent her a book. She hadn't let him see the inside pages. It turned out his "children's" book was about a young boy falling in to the Time Vortex, not quite what she remembered as Time Lord child appropriate. "Uh-"

"You just said you were."

"I was lying." Clara replied quickly. "It was a joke, yah?"

"No you weren't." Angie rolled her eyes.

Clara wrinkled her nose. "Okay, I wasn't. Bit of an odd accident really, fell in to the Doctor's time stream, regenerated, now I've got two hearts." She waited for Angie's reaction.

"Cool."

Clara frowned. "Cool?"

"Yeah, anyways, you're supposed to be driving Artie to football practice and me to Melanie's house." She turned around and left.

"Cool?" Clara echoed.

It turned out the Doctor had been right. If she didn't want anything to change it didn't have too. The drive to Artie's practice was uneventful. Artie asked more about the book, and Clara answered the questions as best she could. The Tardis had been parked outside the house, but he hadn't made an appearance when she'd gone out side. She'd dropped him off with and explained his father would pick him up when he was finished. He'd grabbed his bag and left, telling her to say hi to the Doctor for him. She then turned to head to Angie's friend's house.

"So, you're a Time Lord." Angie said.

"Yes."

"And the Doctor is the is… was the last of his kind?"

Clara looked at her. What was going on in this girl's head? "Yes." She replied.

"So, has he tried to put a baby in you yet?"

Clara slammed on the breaks, causing them to squeal and several cars to honk at her. "What!?"

Angie shrugged. "You're another of his kind, and a girl. I assume he needs a girl for that."

Clara could feel the skin of her eyelid start to ache at how wide her eyes were. "I-"

She hadn't even thought about that. He was centuries of years old, travelled through time and space to escape his loneliness and now had someone like him, someone… compatible. She searched her memories. The Doctor had had children and grandchildren in his life, so he wasn't opposed to the idea of a family. He'd been avoiding it, because it hurt to lose them, that's why he'd been afraid to be close to Jenny, but she'd be there. Her heartbeats quickened. What if he tried to experiment?

Could she even have kids with someone else if she wanted to?

She'd never gotten that far ahead in her thinking. The Doctor seemed so perpetually young, kids hadn't crossed her mind before. She realized soon, that she was getting too far ahead. Her and the Doctor weren't dating, or even physical with each other in _that _way.

"Learn to drive." An older man yelled at her.

"Sod off!" She snapped back. That was enough to pull her from her thoughts. She must have looked like a goldfish to people driving by.

She dropped Angie at her friend's house and then drove back to the Maitlands. She felt like a bit of a zombie, did she really need to ask the Doctor about the birds and bees of a Time Lord? And ask if he wanted kids? She imagined until she asked she wouldn't been able to get it out of her head. She unlocked the door, went inside, removed her shoes and went to close the door only to find the Doctor had slid in while she'd been taking off her shoes.

"I see the children are out." He said with a smile. "I know it's been a rough few days, I was thinking maybe Space Florida? Just to relax for a bit, honestly, no Daleks, I promise. Besides they have-"

"Do you want to have kids?"

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "With us? No, they're sticky and annoying and not allowed at Space Florida."

"No I-"

He pushed her out the door, sans shoes. "Come on, not taking no for an answer." He used the sonic screwdriver to lock the door behind them.

"Doctor I-, shoes Doctor!"

"You're right, shoes are probably needed." He tapped the sonic to his chin. He didn't want to give her anytime to finish her previous thought. If he gave her time he'd need to answer seriously, and he was not ready to answer such a question. "Oh well, the Tardis will have some. Come on, I'll protect your feet." He picked her up and she shrieked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Doctor! This is not-"

"Sure it will." He finished her unfinished thought. "Humans like vacation."

"Not human!" Clara snapped.

"Right, I knew that. This is going to take a bit of time to get used to."

Clara's eyes narrowed. "Okay Doctor, we'll go to Space Florida, and we'll have a vacation, but then you are going to answer a few of my questions."

The Doctor let out a sigh. At least he'd bought himself some time. "Oh, fine."

* * *

So Clara/11? Readers Yay or Nay? Cause the next chapter will sort of be the decider..


	6. Chapter 6

"Doctor!" Clara yelled, sprinting along the boardwalk in her bare feet and red swimsuit.

Vacation he said, Space Florida is nice the time of year we're going to, he said, no Daleks he said. He distinctly said no Daleks.

It had seemed like a nice little vacation to distract from everything. It had worked for the first few hours; she'd pushed all thoughts of being a Time Lord out of her head, forgotten about awkwardly questioning the Doctor and about the loss she'd been feeling. The Doctor even bought her a popsicle that couldn't melt. It all seemed perfect.

Then someone noticed a trashcan moving.

"Sorry! Sorry, honest mistake, who doesn't like Space Florida?" The Doctor yelled back, only a few feet in front of her. He at least had boots on his feet to go with his odd, striped onesie of a bathing suit. Her flip-flops had been long since abandoned.

"Daleks, clearly!"

Asides from the fact one of the trashcans turned out to be an active Dalek, Clara did need to admit Space Florida had been a good idea. They'd swam, and she tanned and the Doctor built a sand version of his beloved K-9. All in all it had been a nice day, the Doctor and her saved the day and no one died. The Doctor even bought her a souvenir baseball hat that had "Space Florida" to protect her from the three suns. When she arrived back at the Maitlands, having thrown a dress on top of her swimsuit, she was nearly out the door before she realized he'd almost weaselled out of their deal.

"Hey! Chin boy! You owe me some answers."

The Doctor visibly winced, his hair still patted down from swimming. "Ah, right." He went to adjust his bowtie and then remembered he was still in his swimsuit. "Oh."

He didn't want this conversation. He never wanted this conversation, not with Rose or Amy or Sarah-Jane or Martha, and most definitely not with a new Time Lady version of Clara. Had he wanted someone to help bring his people back? Of course. Did he want kids? Yes and No. He liked kids, but they weren't really practical without a home planet, and he was not willing to live on Earth permanently. Besides, he and River were perfectly capable of having kids biologically, it just didn't make sense. He'd been trying to get Clara to adjust to everything, to help her feel like nothing needed to change, but his brain had some adjusting to do too.

Clara crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, trying to be as threatening as possible. "So suddenly there are two last of the Time Lords."

The Doctor moved his head from side to side as he often did when thinking. "Well, technically-" He tired to stall.

"A boy and a girl. What's going to happen?"

The Doctor frowned. "Honestly, must we have this conversation now? Or better yet, not have this conversation at all?"

Clara placed her hands on the console. "I need to know."

The Doctor flailed his arms. "What do you want to happen, Clara?" He snapped, the lightheartedness of their trip sucked from the room. "You're a Time Lady now, we're biologically compatible now, however, a few days ago you were biologically compatible with a whole planet and thought nothing of it!"

"This is different and you know it!"

"Yes of course it is." The Doctor groaned, sliding down to sit on the floor, head in his hands. "Just, nothing needs to change. Nothing, okay? We travel, we're just… just Time Lord and Lady."

She watched him, cursing Angie in her head. Of course she'd become all paranoid over this, this early on. She hadn't even thought about it before this. He seemed sorry for snapping, but most of all he seemed confused. Confused because he didn't know the answer to her question and wasn't sure what he should say to not make her run off. He'd remember she was part physic at some point, but it seemed to have left his mind.

"But-" Clara prodded, crouching down to be eye level with the now sitting man.

"But things will be different, no matter what we do." He sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Clara, look, I travel with companions all the time, attractive companions, yes I know, I'm just a bloke" He felt a pang in his chest as he remember Amy pointing it out accusingly after their first encounter with the weeping angels. "But you're an attractive companions who's a Time Lady, the only Time Lady, and it does stuff to my head."

"Just you're head?" Clara teased, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

"Yes-no-wait, shut up!" He rested his hands by his side, trying to not show how flustered he was getting. "Look, Clara, I'm not just going to use you to have kids if that's what you're worried about. I'm not going to make us some sort of Adam and Eve, if I wanted to I could have done that with the Master, I mean he'd have to regenerate to being a girl… or I'd have to regenerate to being a girl-" He shook his head to get off that train of thought. "Ok, no, stopping that thought. But, if at some point we… we" he gestured between them. "wanted to… try something, I guess... I wouldn't oppose. It might be nice with a Time Lady again."

"Sexually?"

"_Romantically_."

"Because I'm a Time Lord."

"No because you're Clara the Time Lord, I mean Lady. You need to stop saying that, it keeps mixing me up. If it was… I don't know, Donna the Time Lady, which it nearly was, kind of, we wouldn't… do anything, but it's not her, it's you. Look, this… this isn't going to be easy for either of us and now is not really the time for us to start, whatever it is we're thinking this will be. I'm sort of a widower and you're suddenly a new species, we have enough to worry about without even thinking of something like... like children."

Clara sighed. She just felt silly now. "Yes, that makes sense. Sorry, I just, it wouldn't get out of my mind."

The Doctor snorted. "I know that feeling." He pulled himself up from the floor of the Tardis, and helped her out of her crouching position. "Look, if you ever actually want to do this, out of your wants, not pity or confusion or some sort of sense of obligation we can start this conversation again. However, not in our bathing suits and not outside your house."

Clara smirked. "So what you're saying with all of this, is that I decide where I want this to go?"

"Yes, haven't I made that clear?"

"So I'm the boss."

The Doctor laughed in spite of everything. "Yes, Clara Oswald, you're the boss."

* * *

And the yays have it.

This was supposed to be two chapters but it got merged in to one. I figured get the awkward conversation out of the way.


	7. Chapter 7

_It changed night to night, which of them was in her dreams. Yesterday it had been Seven, the day before that it had been Two. Tonight it was Nine._

_It seemed to be a regular day, one on Earth, the year was 1967. The sun was bright, the air was cool, and it smelled fresh, like maybe it rained a bit earlier. She couldn't remember if it had, it didn't matter._

_She was Tara Oswin, a middle schooler walking home, knapsack slung over her shoulder, knee socks falling down. She had to write a paper for history and was taking the long way through the park, not wanting to reach home and be forced to start working right away. _

_"There's a kind of hush, all over the world, tonight, all over the world, you can hear the sounds of lovers in love," She sang softly to herself. "if you know what I mean."_

_She'd nearly walked in to Nine, she'd been so distracted. She remembered wondering why someone from the North would be in the area. He'd snapped at her for being distracted, she'd retorted with something about his ears. They laughed and went their separate ways. It hadn't been much farther than a few meters before she realized Nine was being followed by a man who looked like he was elderly, but moved like a wild cat._

_"Hey! Mister! Wait for your friend!" She called. She looked back now as Time Lord Clara and realized how so naive she'd been._

_She supposed that's why the elderly man torn her throat out._

She sat up straight in bed, letting out a shriek. She could swear she felt everything happen all over again. She felt something on her shoulder and shrieked again, lashing out. Her wrists were caught and held gently, but firmly in front of her. She was shaking and sweating. She could see the man still, lunging for her...

"He was a Plukelsian bounty hunter."

Her head snapped up and she realized the Doctor was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding her wrists. Upon seeing recognition in her eyes he let go and rested his hands beside him. "Sorry?"

"That man. He was a shapshifter from a planet called Plukel. Their ruler promised his kingdom to the one who could bring him the last of the Time Lords." He said softly, and she noticed he had unshed tears in the corners of his eyes. "You were twelve, you had pigtails and he…" He trailed off, sniffling, running his arm across his nose.

"You knew what I was dreaming?" Clara asked, suddenly very aware at how little she was wearing. She pulled her covers up higher. "You, you came because you heard me?"

He shook his head. "No, well, not with my ears." He shifted, and she realized he must have been working on the Tardis. He had black and gold rounded goggles pushed up on his forehead, rolled up sleeves, and detached braces. "You… you were projecting your thoughts. The Tardis's shields block out things like that, but I stepped outside to grab some fresh air and it just, hit me, like a wave. Is it… is it always like this for you?" He blinked and identical tears ran down both his cheeks. "I'm so sorry."

Clara inhaled deeply. The most powerful man to ever live was sitting at the end of the bed and crying. "It… it still hurts sometimes. It just happened, I'll, I'll be fine… Doctor."

He laughed, a sharp and bitter laugh. "Clara, you just relived getting brutally murdered and you're trying to comfort me?" He was shaken. He remembered looking at that pigtailed school girl when he was Nine and thinking how clever she would have been and how he owed her his life. A little Earth girl, he'd barely believed it.

The Plukelsian's body had yet to be found.

She looked down at her blanket, and began kneading it nervously. He had that tone again, the one he had when he was going to do kill something for hurting someone he cared for. He'd had it when looking through time for baby Melody and he had it when the Angels came for him and Amy. That tone unnerved her more than most of her nightmares and memories. She started to cry. She was so tired of crying, she was so tired. A glance at the clock told her it was two in the morning. "Do you sleep Doctor?"

"I try not to."

"Why?"

He smiled weakly. "Bad dreams." He moved around to the other side of the bed. "You," he swallowed hard. "You're retaining memories like a Time Lord now, but you're not quite thinking like one yet. You'll drive yourself mad." He climbed on to the bed, on top of the covers and moved to kneel beside her. "We're… we're going to do a bit of a crash course." He held his hands out, palms up. "If… if you're willing."

She felt ragged, and scared. Scared that the man would come back for her, but he was long dead. She looked at the Time Lord's hands and then to his face. He was trying to keep composed, but the shadow of tears were still there and he was shaking ever so slightly. She knew at that point looking at him, that she would do it all again if she had to. "All right." She held her hands out to him. Her covers dropped slightly and she noticed for the first time he didn't flail about wildly at the first sign of cleavage. She imagined he could control those impulses when deemed inappropriate.

He pulled her a bit closer and placed her fingers on his temples. "Ok, I'll do most of the work, just close your eyes." He pressed his forehead to hers and she felt him let go of her hands and place his fingers on her cheeks. "Close your eyes, and just trust me."

It looked like a giant hallway, with doors and portraits along the side. The lighting was shoddy. It just kept flickering from pitch black to an odd sort of pink and then white and then black again. The doors and portraits all had the circular Gallifreyan text beneath them. She looked around, there was no ceiling, it just went up and up in to more blackness. It smelt musty, and old, and something about it just felt... sad.

"Bit dreary isn't it?" Clara asked as she hopped down the step she'd ended up on, her barefoot sliding on the shiny black floor. She was still in her orange nightie. "Could do with a cleaning." She tried to joke, but her voice cracked, giving away that her hearts were not really in to it.

"We're not cleaning my head." The Doctor snapped back, in a voice Clara had not heard in a long time. She glanced back to see Doctor One staring at her. "Oh, I've got it wrong, hang on." He shook his head and changed in to the Eleven that she knew. "Haven't had to do this in a long time."

"So this is your head?"

He nodded. "Yes, it's a bit muddled right now." He sighed, wringing his hands.

"How can I see you?"

"This is just what's easiest to process right now."

She walked over to the wall. She noticed their were portraits of his other selves on the wall, one through ten that she knew and the man she'd seen at Trenzalore. His portrait was planted between Eight and Nine. As soon as she went to touch the frame, the portrait disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

"No poking around." He warned.

He took her hand and led her down the hall. She saw odd machines appear on the floor once in a while that she needed to step around to avoid falling. It felt like they walked for miles, until the Doctor finally opened one of the doors on the wall and ushered her inside. The room was black, except for what appeared to be TV screens, or windows floating around the room. He tapped on one of them and it faded away.

"Your mind retains everything. Normally, time, exhaustion, things like that erode your mind and a few connections get missed and you forget something. You forget a name or birthday or face or something. You've suddenly got a new brain with thousands of memories that have happened and will happen and ones that may not happen. You can see things change as they happen. It's one of the psychic abilities most Time Lords have dormant. You've got all these connections now at once and they're all at the forefront of your mind. You need to organize them."

"You mean forget."

"No, honest, I mean organize. I remember every companion who's travelled with me. Most human, most gone. I've seen their lives over and over and I don't forget them, but they're in that corner of my mind, because if they weren't I couldn't go on." He said with a sigh. "Clara, I know you're for some reason willing to go to hell and back to remember everything, but you need to organize it."

"Is this why you seem so scatter brained at times? You're running from door to door looking for the right one?"

"I don't literally do this, it's a visual representation of it… but yes I guess. Your hallways gets pretty big after a life like mine."

"So where do I start? Where do I… how do I build something like this?" She asked.

"George home tomorrow?"

"Yes, he's taking the kids out for the day."

"Well, then we've got lots of time. Let's get started."


	8. Chapter 8

It felt odd, having someone else rummaging around inside her head. The backs of her eyeballs were itchy.

She walked down her hallway, the Doctor beside her, checking the walls for cracks. It had taken four hours with both of them working to get the main hall done and she felt like she'd laid every brick by hand. It wasn't fancy, but it was much better lit than the Doctor's and slowly but surely, the clutter from one end of the wall was being put behind doors and portraits, and hung on the walls. It was exhausting looking for what she needed, and very emotional. There were memories she'd long since forgotten, sitting there to be sorted.

"Well, I think that we've earned a bit of a break." The Doctor announced, running his fingers along the wall. "It seems sturdy enough."

With that, Clara opened her eyes and the Doctor removed his hands from her face. Her arms felt sore and parts of them were asleep, she rested them by her sides. She felt exhausted, but for the first time in days, her mind felt like it fit inside of her head. "Thank you." She said weakly, laying her head down on her pillow.

He gave her a small smile and patted her hair. "All right, sleep now. We'll finish up later." He moved to leave but Clara flopped her arm down on his chest. Startled, his head fell back and he smacked it on the headboard of her bed. "Ow."

"You, sleep." She mumbled using all of the strength she had left to try to pin him.

He looked over at her from the corner of his eye. "Uh."

"Just don't…" Whatever she was going to say was replaced with a snore. She'd fallen asleep.

"Poor girl." He sighed. He shifted so his head rested on the head on the very edge of her pillow and closed his eyes. He'd give her an hour, then he'd need to at the very least get free, he had so much work to do on the Tardis.

More than an hour passed. In fact, it was quarter passed eleven when the Doctor finally opened his eyes. He blinked and looked around in confusion. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and shook his head. Clara had shifted so she no longer had her arm splayed across him. He hopped out of bed and slid the goggles off of his head, running and hand through his mussed hair, before returning them to his forehead. He hadn't slept that long in quite a while.

Clara was still snoring.

He poked her arm. "Clara." He hissed. "Clara. Clara." He poked her arm over and over. "Clara."

"Go away mum." She groaned and rolled over.

He placed his hands on his hips. "Mum?" He asked in disbelief, but she'd fallen back asleep.

He slowly opened her door and poked his head out and just listened. It took a few minutes before the Doctor decided that George and the kids had already gone out. He scratched his cheek and headed down the stairs. He decided that Clara would appreciate tea when she woke up and set about trying to find the proper supplies. He was just in the middle of putting the kettle on when the doorbell rang. He slunk over to the door and looked out the windows.

There were three girls on the other side, all carrying small trays of food.

He opened the door. "Yes?"

"Hi, is Clara here?"

"No," He said then frowned. "I mean yes." He said. "She's sleeping, long night. I kind of wore her out-not like that!" He corrected himself quickly as the girls started to snicker. "Oh, hush."

"We're supposed to be having lunch, we always do when she has the day off."

"Which is barely ever." Chimed in one of the other girls.

He tilted his head to the side. "She never mentioned you last-" He began but stopped when he heard a loud thud from above him followed by a very large string of Gallifreyan curses. "Ah," He clapped his hands together. "sounds like she's awake."

Not a minute later Clara came bounding down the stairs in black shorts and flowery shirt. "I'm so sorry, I over slept and I completely forgot about lunch and Doctor! I also forgot about them and… can we continue later with the-" She gestured at her head.

He nodded.

She shooed the Doctor back to his Tardis to get changed and led everyone else over to the kitchen table. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten about the lunch thing. It had been the most important thing in her head until a few days ago. She hadn't seen any of her friends in weeks due to work and nannying and adventuring. She supposed transforming in to an alien changed your priorities a bit.

"So, what is this? Clara Oswald has a boyfriend?"

"No, I have a may be boyfriend at some point friend who is a boy." Clara insisted. She wondered if she always rambled like this or if it was some sort of Time Lord thing. Her mind did rush an awful lot now, her mouth could barely keep up with her at times.

"So a boyfriend?"

"A may be some point boyfriend." She repeated.

She managed to dip and avoid most of their prying questions while she attempted to make the frozen pizza she'd purchased in her rush to get food after her regeneration. She explained he was just someone she'd bumped in to on the street and that they began hanging out after that. There was flirtation, nothing really serious, but Clara was contemplating trying to be a bit more serious. He was, of course, a Doctor.

"Doctor of what?" Her friend Kelly pushed, taking a sip of her tea.

Clara thought a second. "Everything I suppose."

"Everything?"

"He's quite clever."

"See? Thank you, I keep saying that and people never listen. Honestly, I think it's this face, too much chin."

She spun around quickly. He'd changed back in to his normal waistcoat, bow tie combination and was sipping out of a bright green mug. He was startled by his sudden reappearance, but not as much as she would have been the day before. Of course he'd sneak back in for tea.

"Yes it is, work on that next time." She tossed a dish cloth off the counter in his face.

He plucked it out of the air and wrinkled his nose at her. "Oh haha."

The group ate lunch, and chatted and had tea for a few hours before the girls had to leave to head to their various jobs. Clara felt a bit more relaxed by the end of it. Her friends liked the Doctor. They thought he was quirky, funny and much nicer than her ex. She could tell they wanted much more gossip material than the oblivious Doctor would reveal and she kept her mouth shut.

As the girls turned to leave, the tallest turned to them. "You know there's a group of us going out dancing on Friday, you should come Clara, you too Doctor."

"I love dancing." The Doctor exclaimed happily.

Clara groaned.

* * *

To answer a question or two that I forgot to address earlier.

I used to write a lot. I don't much now. Pretty much when I feel like writing now, I just sit down and do it. I think it's probably an explosion that's been bottled up for a while which is why I update fairly quickly. We'll all see how long it lasts.

As far as Clara's mom? That's a topic that's going to take a bit of working up to.


	9. Chapter 9

It was dark.

She rolled her head from side to side on her pillow. It was a hard, uncomfortable pillow with too little stuffing. She had no blankets and was definitely in her nightie still.

Normally waking up in a different place from where she'd gone to sleep would have unnerved Clara, but lately she'd come to expect it.

Pinkish lights flickered around her. She huffed and rolled her eyes.

She was in the wrong head again.

She sat up and threw her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. She needed to go find the Doctor… again, and he would freak out…again. This was the third time this week now she'd woken up inside his head. Something which he'd assured her multiple times should "No definitely not be a possibility, impossibly impossible… possibly." She tapped on her wrist as she counted the seconds. Normally he was there in under a minute, flailing his arms and yelling. He seemed to think she was doing it on purpose, but she didn't know how. His record was five seconds, the longest was two minutes.

"One, two, three, four, five-" She counted aloud, walking along the wall of the room. It was always the same room. The impossible girl room. A room in his head full of pictures of her and the other Claras and Taras and Oswins . She felt flattered to even have her own room in his head. She walked around for a few minutes just waiting as he'd instructed. She figured if there were supposed to be companions for hundreds of years to come, best start off on the right foot.

But by the time she hit seven hundred thirty three she was starting to feel itchy.

She yanked the door open and stuck her head out the door. She scanned the hall of pictures and doors. No sign of the Doctor and his flailing. She frowned. Hadn't he noticed her yet?

"Doctor!" She asked curiously. "Doctor?" She raised her voice.

There was no answer.

"Tardis must be very upset with him." She said and stepped out of the room. She closed the door behind her and made a note of the location of the now familiar silver C on the door. "Oh Doctor? I've done it again!

Her voice made no echo as she ran down the hall. "Doctor?Where are you?"

In response she heard a far off laugh, a woman's laugh.

"That's new." She mumbled and took off towards the sound. "Hello? Doctor?"

She ran down the hallway. It felt never ending. She didn't know how long she ran for, minutes, hours, time seemed to have no meaning. The woman's voice got louder and louder until finally Clara saw an open door with light streaming out of it.

"Honestly now, you are just a horrible person."

That was the Doctor's voice. He wasn't saying it in anger though, he sounded like he was laughing as well.

"Ah, come now Sweetie, you love it."

Clara felt her hearts sink.

"Now come on, I've only got until the camp packs up in the morning." She heard River's voice continue, floating out of the room. "Shall we?"

Clara frowned. No. Married or not, Time traveller or not, she was last of the Time Ladies now and she was stuck in the Doctor's head while he had weird relations with his sort of but not always dead wife. "Doctor?" She yelled loudly and she could hear something crash to the ground in the room. "Doctor? I'm stuck again! Where are you?"

She could hear the Doctor groan and bit back a laugh.

"WHO is that?" River asked in confusion.

"The door labelled R." The Doctor called back. "River- I can explain. Kind of, there's a bit of spoilers involved, she's travelling with me. Clara, you'll meet her."

Clara stepped in to the room. It was a bedroom, rather large with a table and chairs off to the side. It almost looked like a hotel room. Both River and the Doctor were fully dressed which relieved her. "Doctor-Oh, hello River, I didn't know you were here." She lied. The curly haired woman had never done anything bad to her. She was an amazing woman, strong, smart, witty, but all Clara could see was a woman trying to take her Doctor away from her. She knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn't help it.

River blinked. "Who are you?"

"I'm Clara."

"We've met in the future then." River concluded.

The Doctor smiled weakly, very aware of the sudden tension in the room. "Ok then." He wrung his hands together. "Clara, you are here. Why are you here?"

"I'm stuck again." She replied simply.

"You're stuck in his head?" River asked, then turned to the Doctor. "You just leave your mental shields down with her all the time?"

"I most certainly do not. She just sort of… pops in sometimes when I think about her and we're sleeping."

"So you'e here, with me." River said slowly. "In a bedroom, and thinking about her?"

"Yes." The Doctor said. "No! Wait! No, not like that!" He waived his hands around franticly.

Clara wrinkled her nose and tapped her barefoot against the carpeted floor. He didn't have to act as though she was a hag. "I thought you said you wanted to try something with me Doctor."

She saw the Time Lord's face pale. "C-Clara! This really isn't the time to discuss that."

"Doctor, I thought we…" River trailed off sadly. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh. "Well, I suppose you are hundreds of years old."

Clara now felt incredibly guilty as she watched the older woman sit down on the bed. Was she jealous of River? Of course she was. But now River thought the Doctor was cheating on her, with a companion. When what he'd done was mention something. She didn't know she was dead, and the Doctor could barely handle it himself.

"I'm sorry, it was a joke." Clara said softly. "There's nothing. I'm just not used to be psychic yet, I get stuck in here sometimes. I just need help getting out and back to my own mind."

River looked up at her. "A joke."

"Yes, of course." Clara insisted. This must be a young River. "Just a joke. His chins' too big and his hair is all wrong." She turned to the Doctor who had started to regain some colour in his face. "Now, chin boy, get me back in to my own head!"

The Doctor looked over to River and the back to Clara. He pecked River on the cheek. "I'll be just a tick, dear." He lept off the bed, grabbed Clara's wrist and dragged her out of the room.

They walked in silence down the hall. Clara weaved to avoid Doctor Five who gave her a quick nod. Eleven had that look on his face. That moody, "I hate my life" look that she'd noticed increased in frequency with his newer incarnations. His bangs fell over his left eye. If his posture wasn't enough, Clara noticed the lights started to flashing faster.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I didn't mean to-"

"How do you keep getting in here?" He snapped. "I block you out and still you keep getting in. Tonight was supposed to be Doctor and River time and now she's going to be trying to pry answers out of me all night."

"I'm sorry." Clara replied, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm didn't know you were mind shagging your dead wife tonight or I would have stayed stuck in my room at the other end of your head, but as it is I was hoping to actually wake up in the morning in my own head."

"You… this is the only way I can see her anymore. The only way I can stand it." He sighed sadly. "And you just keep popping in and ruining it."

"Keep?" Clara asked in confusion.

"Each time River is here, you have to just show up and then I have to push you out of here. Know I know why three nights ago she asked why I keep running off and if you had anything to do with it. Because she met you the first time!" He stopped suddenly and pulled her to a halt. "You need to get out and stop showing up."

"Or maybe you need to move on, Doctor."

"I'm fine."

"You're moping! You always mope! Governess Clara found you moping and I called tech support and found you moping. You mope. You live in the past. You always get stuck."

"Get. Out." He threatened, stepping closer to her.

"I don't know how to!" Clara snapped back angrily, pushing against his shoulder.

"Leave me alone."

"Well then make me!"

Then she found herself pulled to the Doctor. She braced her hands on his chest and looked up in surprise.

Then he kissed her.

And she woke up with a start.

She looked around her room frantically and tore the curtains open. The Tardis was still packed in the backyard.

"Well," she breathed, pressing her index finger to her lower lip. "that was new."


	10. Chapter 10

He could hear her banging against the TARDIS door. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He knees started to protest at his crouching position.

Maybe if he didn't answer, she'd think he was asleep.

He felt a tingling up his arm and realized he'd electrocuted himself on the exposed circuit of the TARDIS. It was an unfortunately common occurrence when he was distracted. He let out a sigh and laid the sonic screwdriver down by his feet. He thought she'd at least give him until morning before he had to explain himself. It had been less than ten minutes, probably just enough for her to pull on a sweater and shoes. It had barely been enough for River to run out of his head and back to her camp. In that time he'd started fiddling with one of the panels outside the door to his room to try to calm himself down.

"Probably afraid I'd run off without her." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, still mussed from his attempt at sleep. "Tempting."

The TARDIS made a humming noise of disproval.

"Oh, you didn't even like her until a week ago." He snorted back.

The TARDIS hummed again.

"I see your point." He sighed, tapping on the wall. "Doesn't mean I like it."

The TARDIS went silent and much to the Doctor's relief it seemed Clara had forgotten her key again. He could hear her yelling in the distance through the door.

"Open this door you-" She trailed off in to a list of Gallifreyan curses, a habit he'd noticed she'd developed.

He shifted from his crouch and sat down on the floor. No, of course he wasn't going to run off on the only other Time Lord in existence who'd been on Gallifrey. River… for that, River didn't really count.

He knew he had a hit or miss piloting ability. Maybe he'd run off to the 16th century for a few minutes to her, or it could be thousands of years and she would be there still, nose wrinkled in anger. Maybe a different face or different hair, but somehow he knew Clara Oswald would find him no matter how far away he could run. He had explaining to do and she would track him until he did. He'd kissed her, while a young version of his dead wife had waited for him to return.

"The Doctor lies." He sighed sadly. He sincerely hoped this hadn't made River lose hope in his younger self.

He'd been puzzled by Clara when she was his impossible girl and now she was a Time Lady. She'd rarely left the forefront of his mind since he'd met her as a governess in Victorian London. Now she was psychic and unintentionally leaping in to his mind. He theorized that his mind expected her to be in there anyways.

"With my wife. My mind expects her to be there when my wife is there." He groaned and closed his eyes again. "No, no this is too soon. I am not ready for this."

Did he care for Clara? Of course. Was she now a being that knew almost everything about him? Yes. Did he find her attractive? Emotionally, yes. Physically? Yes. Did he… love her?

"I love her, I love all my companions… except Adam… does he even count as a companion?" He shook his head, trying to get his mind back on track. "Am I in love with her? No."

The TARDIS hummed again.

"Not yet." He amended and that seemed to appease the ship. He opened his eyes. "All right, you don't… start in love, do you? That sort of… happens later on and the kiss was brilliant, short, and she was a little stiff but still-."

It felt wrong though. His had just learned about his wife, and then seen her dead, but yet in so many times and places she was still alive. He would probably run in to her again, numerous times. It wasn't uncommon for there to be some awkward overlaps in the timelines of Time Lords, but he didn't imagine Clara or River wanting to feel like they were being two-timed. When he'd mentioned trying something with Clara, he'd expected it to not come up again for a few years. He though maybe, when Clara had adjusted to not being human and his hearts had healed more from River. It had only been a few days.

"Of course Clara might not be interested." He continued to himself.

"Oh, Clara is interested."

"All right, she's interested. But she can't be a rebound for River, she'd too special for that."

"Because she's a Time Lady?"

"No because she's-Clara!" He looked up and saw the object of his thoughts watching him, dressed in a bathrobe and flip-flops.

"TARDIS let me in." She said with a smirk. "She's warming up to me, so are you it seems."

"Traitorous time machine." He murmured.

The TARDIS made several short humming noises that Clara interpreted as a snicker.

"And I was a little stiff because we were arguing, in your head, and then you kissed me, in your head. That didn't really happen." Clara continued. "Anyways, I keep showing up in your head when your wife is there because…?"

"Oh shut up." He groaned.

"You're the one who kissed me, Doctor."

"Because I find you…" He flailed his arms around as he always did when flustered. "because I've been thinking a few things-that maybe you were right when you said I was moping."

"And?"

"And, maybe you… you could h-" He wrinkled his nose at the word he was about to say. "help me…move on from River."

Clara raised an eyebrow.

Her plan had been to barge in and try to drag some answers out of him, but it turned out when he believed he was alone was when he'd reveal the most. He revealed he loved her and admitted to the possibility of one day being in love with her. He found her attractive and still, when believing arguing with himself, said that he liked her for more than being a Time Lady.

However, he was also panicking. Panicking that he was dishonouring River's memory by moving on too soon and that he would mistreat her. Most of all though, he'd asked for her help with something very personal.

It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Did she love the Doctor? Of course. Just meeting him made most people fall partially in love with him. Was she in love with him? Probably. She'd never been in love before, so she couldn't say for sure, but she couldn't imagine being torn apart and dying time after time for anyone else. She loved him when he was an old man living in 1963, with his crazy fashions over the years, and his current baby face. She was giving up all she knew for him… of course she wasn't just going to tell him that. He'd have to work for that information.

"Well, I think we've been through an awful lot the past little while." Clara stated, tilting her chin up. "I've changed species, we saved the universe, lost some loved ones, I think I would be willing to be seen out dancing with you, with the girls. Maybe, we could think of it as... sort of... not quite a date? But a start?"

Her statement seemed to pull the Doctor out of his thoughts. "I am a great dancer." He insisted, crossing his arms over his chest and blowing his bangs out of his face. "I don't know why no one believes me. I will show you and your friends."

Clara rolled her eyes, but her smile widened. That was a yes. "Because you're horrible at it." She paused a moment standing on her tiptoes and pressing a kiss to the Doctor's cheek. "I'll see you in the morning then, yah?" She turned and headed down the hall to exit the TARDIS. Her mind at peace for the night.

The Doctor touch his hand to his cheek. "Uh…yah…"

The TARDIS hummed.

"Oh shut up. I preferred it when you hated her."

* * *

Before there are complaints, I know it's slow going. I always prefer the build up to relationships.

Out of curiosity, thoughts on Doctor 12 casting? Initial reaction for me was "no way, I love Matt Smith, he cannot be replaced." I also had that reaction for David Tennant though, so I'll probably enjoy Peter Capaldi once I see him as the Doctor. I have a very short term memory it seems.


End file.
